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Well, its been a while since I posted some of my ground grizzly hunting exploits. What with Photobucket taking all my photos hostage. I've since found a new hosting site.
In the meantime, this makes No.12 for the year. This one pretty much dropped into my lap. Taking a break from a call carving I was working on, I went into the family room an sat down to watch the news. As I am sitting there, I catch a movement outside the glass patio door? Figuring it to be a squirrel, I did not pay it much mind immediately. But when it sidled up to the door I realized it was a hog! Darn thing actually bumped it's nose up against the screen and startled itself. When it turned away I darted up the steps, and grabbed the .25 Cricket, and headed out the deck door. [It is now legal in Pennsylvania to use an air rifle for hunting small game]. Peering over the rail I caught movement down the hill in front of HH 1-1/2. It seems the hog had wandered down the hill in the interim of me getting the rifle and making my way out onto the deck. Where I was standing, it had to be an off hand shot under the deck rail. I managed to place the crosshair right on his ear as he cast a sidewards glance back up at me. Pop! The .25 caliber slug pole axed him! The wife came out onto the deck just in time to witness the hog do a death roll, his control center having been wiped out. She was even gracious enough to grab my camera and snap a photo. The 25.39 grain slug had passed completely through the hogs head at 25 yards making a gory mess. In the waning days of Summer I'll hopefully regal you all with a few more stories. In the meantime, Good hunting!
HuntnCarve
Dave
Love it! Good shooting offhand and under the rail
That Crickett is the only item around this place that makes me drool.
Good shot! I bet that you are really bothered when they flaunt themselves on your deck. :eyebrownod:
Jerry
So nice you can 'finally' use the cricket as your axe.
Guess that's number one for that gun :wink:
Jerry, I am perfectly happy having them present themselves down near the Honey Holes. Up on the patio is crossing the line. :wink:
Clyde, on your next trip out this way you need to swing on by and take a few shots with the Cricket. Then you will really be drooling! :laf:
Dave, meantime I also have the Marauders (.22 & .25) in the batters box.
NIce one, Dave! 12 for the year...... It amazes me how many hogs you have. They must multiply like rabbits. I have a friend who has been battling hogs in his back yard forever. He's got one he sees every now and then but can't get a shot at it. He lives in town and has to be careful with the gun noise. His ordeal with that groundhog reminds me of "Caddy Shack". :laf:
Johnny, we've lived here for 25 years now. And every year I'll shoot between 10-20 groundhogs. The first ten years here, I was averaging about 25/year. With the first year being my banner year at 33 hogs!
Their numbers are down now and not like they once were. Which makes me happy and the wife's flowers and garden safe. There's a lot of agriculture around me, mixed in with residential areas. So the hogs quickly adapt and find a home. Walking around town, I see the scenario you described with your friend and his shed being taken over. -This is where the use of the air rifles would be ideal. They are no where near as loud as a .22 CB (which used to be my weapon of choice). But they are just as lethal. And need to be respected from a safety stand point.
I like this on going saga :eyebrownod:
They're trying to move in. Or....they know your getting old an wanna give you a better chance :alscalls:
You get them by the hundreds and I don't get to see them any other way. Good going. :yoyo:
Same here Barry. All I get to shoot is coyotes, fox, bobcat and mountain lions. Dave is having all the fun. :laf:
As a boy I can remember pitching off a hay wagon as it lumbered across an inclined field. My job was to stack the bales on the wagon as the farmer pulled it with the tractor, and the adults tossed the bales up to me. I heard the farmer yell something to me just as the tractor tire hit a hidden chuck hole. The hole collapsed and the tractor tilted hard. All I remember was the load of bales and me spilling out onto the field. I was not hurt luckily. But that day I vowed to take out every chuck I could possibly find. Forty some years later, I'm still at it. LOL!